Stamping Sensations April Challenge

First Sunday of the month, so time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations, and we have a very easy one for you this month as our theme is

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES * * * * *

The choice of subject is entirely up to you, but of course, as we are a stamping challenge, the main element of your design must be hand stamped (or a hand coloured digital image). Please do check that your project fits our rules (see them here), otherwise it will not be eligible for the prize or top 3 and may not be commented on, in fairness to others who do follow the rules.

Our wonderful April sponsor is PDA, who have given us a fabulous £40 voucher for the winner to spend in their store!

I managed to get my hands on some of the new Distress Oxide ink pads last week, and I've used some of them for the background of my card. Think they are going to be my new favourite inks! I'm only just beginning to explore all their possibilities but I'm loving them already!

I stamped over the background with Lavinia stamps (flower border, pods and butterflies), a text by Inkylicious and a sentiment by Visible Image.

Good luck everyone, I'm looking forward to seeing lots of lovely creations!

One for the girls

My goodness, where did last month go?! Can't believe it's time for another Stamping Sensations Challenge already! But it is, and our theme this month is

* * * * * ONE FOR THE GIRLS * * * * *

Of course, you can interpret that however you wish, as long as your project includes a stamp (digis welcome as long as they are not pre-coloured) as the focal point of your project. As usual we have a terrific prize for the winner of our challenge, and making a very welcome return as our sponsor is PDA Card & Craft, who have donated a very generous £40 voucher to be spent online or, if you're local, in their store.

For my card I was inspired by one of the beautiful papers in the Dovecraft "Bohemian" 6"x 6" paper pad, which just happened to fall into my basket when I was in The Range the other day! I loved the colours and flowers, and it reminded me of the Crafty Individuals stamp I've used with it, which I thought would be very appropriate for the theme. Crafty Individuals stamps are available from PDA, and though I can't guarantee that they'll have this particular one in stock I'm sure they could order it if required.

I framed the Old Fashioned Girl with a Spellbinders die, to which she was attached with foam pads, and coloured her with Be Creative alcohol markers. She was matted on to the background paper with some Bazzill Basics card. I distressed the edges of all the papers. Finally I added some diecut butterflies. (Large - Frantic Stamper, small - Cheery Lynn).

There are lots of gorgeous girly samples over on the Challenge Blog, and my lovely teamies would be delighted if you would visit their individual blogs too, and maybe leave them a comment. Hopefully this will be a popular theme, and I will be looking forward to seeing lots of beautiful feminine creations! Thanks for looking!

Pink!

April already! A very busy last few weeks of term have meant I've had little time for blogging, or indeed crafting, but the Easter holidays are here at last, and so is our April Challenge at Stamping Sensations. I think our latest theme will be very popular, as it is

* * * * * PRETTY IN PINK * * * * *

Making a welcome return visit as our sponsor this month is PDA Card & Craft,

who are giving the lucky winner a fantastic £40 voucher to spend on their website or in their shop, where you will most definitely be spoilt for choice!

Pink is not one of my preferred colours, even though it does occasionally make an appearance on my cards, albeit in small amounts. However, I wouldn't normally use it as a main colour, so I had to step outside my comfort zone a bit here!

The focal image was created with Card-io Majestix stamps, from the Secret Garden set and Golden Daffodils set, both sets available from PDA here. I lightly sponged a background with pigment inks on a circular diecut while the paper was still in the die, and then stamped the scene with various stamps from the two sets. This was then matted on to a scalloped circle cut from patterned paper. Both it and the background paper were magazine freebies. The sentiments were also freebies (Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine). Plain Circle and Scallop Circle dies are by Spellbinders, Butterfly by Cheery Lynn and Bluebell by Wild Rose Studio.

It may not be my favourite colour, but I am certainly hoping to see lots of lovely pink creations for our challenge! The DT have some gorgeous samples for you over on the Challenge Blog, so do go and have a look at them and while you're there say hello to our two brilliant new teamies, Gerrina and Viv.

Happy Easter everybody!

Dies and Punches at Stamping Sensations

For our April Challenge at Stamping Sensations we would like you to show us what you can do with your

***** DIES AND PUNCHES *****

Your project can be anything you like as long as it uses punched and/or diecut elements. And some stamping, of course!

Our fab sponsor this month is once again PDA Card & Craft, who have very generously donated a whopping £40 voucher to be spent either online or in their shop in Langley Mill, which is on the Notts/Derbyshire border.

PDA are well known for their quality cardstock, which they supply in just about every shade and type you could possibly want, but they also sell a huge variety of craft materials, so the winner of this fantastic prize will be spoilt for choice!

Anyway, on to my project. I've called it "Spring Triptych", and have used both dies and punches.

I began by cutting an A4 sheet of card into three equal pieces and trimming one end of each with the Britannia Dies Small Lattice Edge. While looking through my patterned paper stash, I came across some that I've had for so long I'd forgotten all about it! If I remember correctly it came from Lakeland, when they had a craft section, in a pack with some glittered butterfly and flower stickers. I thought it would be perfect for a Spring project, with its tulips and butterflies, and pretty Spring colours. I traced around the edge of the lattice die to hand cut the paper to fit the top of each panel. (The die only cuts the outer edge.) I didn't want to cover up the paper too much, so I just added some diecut shapes (Spellbinders Labels 4) and some tiny punched butterflies. On the two outer panels I stamped a tulip (Stampin' Up)  and the centre one has some punched flowers and leaves and a sentiment (Inkylicious).

   

Once each panel was complete, I inserted some eyelets and joined the panels together with narrow ribbon. A spot of glitter glue on the punched butterflies and flower centres provided the finishing touch.

A little aside here! When the trend for diecutting first started, I wasn't interested. I certainly didn't intend to spend a lot of money on something that I might use once or twice and then stick in a cupboard, never again to see the light of day. At the time, I was running a card making class, and some of the members had bought Cuttlebugs. They were soon raving about them, and wanting to use them in the classes. I resisted for a while, but then I discovered Spellbinders dies and was impressed by the effects you could get with them. I gave in and got a 'bug of my own. And promptly fell in love with it! Of course, since then the variety of types and styles of dies has just grown and grown, not to mention that of machines, both manual and electronic. I remain faithful to my 'bug, though. I don't feel any need for larger dies, or electronic cutting. I can do everything I want to with the Cuttlebug, and a great many of my projects contain at least one element produced by it. It has never let me down. I can't see why on earth I would want to trade it in for a smarter model .....

My creative teamies have a gorgeously eclectic selection of samples for you over on the Challenge Blog, so do go over and be inspired. Last month's Pink theme was very popular, and I reckon this one is going to be equally so. I'm really looking forward to seeing lots of entries, so dig out those dies and punches and get cracking! Thanks for looking.

PS. Just realised this also fits the Butterfly Challenge (No. 4), so I'm going to enter it there.

Floating.....

Yes, I know, two posts in one day from me must come as a bit of a shock! However, I came across a rather gorgeous background technique on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it out. It's called reinker float. Basically you emboss a design on to your card, soak it with water and then "float" the reinkers on the water so that they spread and merge. I won't go into all the details now as you can see just how to do it in a tutorial by Selene Kempton here.

I don't have any "shimmer white cardstock" (which Selene recommends and which I presume is from Stampin' Up), so I used some pearlescent card which seemed to work fine. (Bought it a long time ago so can't remember exactly what type it is, but I think it was from PDA and the colour is "ice white".) The main criterion is that the card should hold the water on top rather than absorbing it. 

Most times when I try a new technique it takes several goes before I master it to my satisfaction, but I'm actually quite pleased with my first attempt at this one! Of course it helped that it was easy to do! Using the pearlescent card gives it a lovely shimmer, almost mother-of-pearl like. The photo doesn't do it justice. 

The flower stamp is by Technique Tuesday. I stamped it with Versamark ink and embossed with clear powder (you could also use white powder but I wanted the sheen of the card to show through). Having thoroughly soaked it, I then dropped on Distress reinkers (Dusty Concord, Shaded Lilac and Antique Linen).  The card didn't need much besides the flower panel to finish it off. (Sentiment by Technique Tuesday, butterfly by Justrite, paper flower by Prima.)

I had avoided joining Pinterest until very recently, knowing that if I did I would end up spending quite a lot of time there! However, I've succumbed, and I'm so glad I did! There is so much inspiration out there and my boards are filling up very quickly. That's why I wanted to give this a go straight away rather than spend so much time browsing that I never got round to making anything. Must keep that thought in mind.......

Is it Spring??

Well, it's April, so it must be, but it sure doesn't feel like it up here! Although the last few days have been sunny, it's still very cold, and there is still snow on the ground in places. And looking at the weather forecast for the next few weeks, I won't be putting my thermals away just yet!

Anyway, it really is April, even if the weather doesn't think so, and we have a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. The theme is

** SPECIAL OCCASIONS, OTHER THAN BIRTHDAYS **

Lots of scope with this one. Anniversaries, weddings, new babies, retirement, graduation, new home, get well soon, congratulations (eg. for new job, passing exams, driving test) even sympathy cards. I'm sure you can think of many other Special Occasions. Just remember NO BIRTHDAYS!

Mind you, the winner this month will probably think it's their birthday! Our April sponsors are PDA Card & Craft, and they have given us this most generous prize!

The lucky recipient will be spoilt for choice! I used to live near PDA, and I miss being able to pop into the shop for a good browse! However, their mail order service is brilliant, so at least I can still buy their products. They are probably best known for their fantastic selection of top quality blank card and paper, but they have lots of other craft goodies too, including stamps (from many companies), dies and stencils, a huge range of embellishments, pens, punches, inks (including Distress), embossing powders, adhesives and beautiful printed papers, one of which I have used for my card.  I've been saving it for a long time, it's almost too pretty to use! But I decided it would be perfect for this card, and anyway I've got another sheet to keep!

PDA also stock the Marianne Design frame die, which I used to cut out the butterfly image. The butterfly stamp is one I've had for years, and I've no idea who made it, it doesn't have any ID on it. I coloured the image with Promarkers and inked around the edges of the frame, and along the border. The butterfly punch used to make the border is also anonymous. It's actually a corner punch, but I took out the corner guides so I could do the border instead. I coloured one of the punched out butterflies and stuck it just above the sentiment, which is by Personal Impressions.

My lovely teamies have some superb samples for you to feast your eyes upon, and if they don't brighten up this unspringlike Spring, I don't know what will! Do hop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them. I'll look foward to seeing your Special Occasion creations!